Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

How to Blog More Powerfully About Upcoming Events

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© kichigin19 - Fotolia.com
© kichigin19 – Fotolia.com

A blog must do more than just promote your business. The true power of business blogging is the ability it gives you to educate, inform, entertain and inspire your audience.

But can your blog do all those things? Yes, absolutely, and it should! An effective call to action (CTA) was one of the three criteria Social Fresh used to choose the top blogs of 2014.

Since a blog has dates, it’s a natural place to promote upcoming events at your business, clinic or studio. You might even dedicate an entire post to describing the event, its presenters, location, and other features and benefits.

But what if you could write about your event in additional posts, in a non-promotional way that still gets people thinking about your event, and excited about attending?

In my signature presentation How to Write Your First Four Business Blog Posts, I identify four types of posts you can use to make blogging easier, week after week. The basic premise is that not all of your posts need to be feature-length articles such as a how-to post.

In fact, if you can write just one of those every month (and I know you can), you can fill in the other weeks with a variety of posts that may be shorter and easier for you to put together.

Let’s look at each of the four types of posts, specifically how to use them to promote an upcoming event.

The how-to post

Here you can offer your readers a DIY version of what you’re presenting at the event – or even a small portion of it.

Why would someone come to the event when you’ve given them what they need to accomplish the same results on their own? As Andrea Lee once pointed out, why would someone buy a concert ticket when you can just listen to a CD? For a completely different experience!

At the event people will get direct time with you, camaraderie and support from a group of people with similar goals, time away from their regular life to focus their attention on the topic, and much more.

Getting a solo introduction to the material in a blog post can fuel their interest and can also show them why and how they need more help and resources to get the full effect.

The personal post

Pull back the curtain and share your own reasons for putting on this event. Why are you passionate about getting people together to experience this? What are your personal and professional goals for the event?

What are some of the steps you’ve gone through in planning and implementing the event? Were there any bumps along the way that could be used as lessons – either directly or as an analogy?

The curated post

Browse your trusted sources from around the web for useful resources to prepare for the event, as well as entertaining and/or educational videos about the topic.

You can provide links to text-based blog posts, along with a quote and/or a summary that includes your commentary on why you chose to share this resource and why you think it will be valuable to your reader.

For more visual interest and interaction, you can also embed content such as infographics, YouTube videos, SlideShare presentations, or audio podcasts right into your blog post.

The spotlight post

Who are some of the other people involved in the event, such as speakers, vendors or other partners? Introduce them to attendees and prospective attendees in an interview or guest post. They may also have their own original content that could be repurposed or embedded into as a blog post on your site.

The richest source of enthusiasm about your event may come from attendees themselves. Who participated in a previous event and is coming back for more? Who is attending their first event and why are they so excited to do so? What unique experiences and perspectives do they bring, and what are they hoping to take away?

If you have an event coming up, don’t limit your blogging to just promotional posts! Draw your readers in with a rich mixture of blog posts that inspire them to be part of what you’re planning.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

Top 10 Blogging Tips for Professional Services

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© michaeljung - Fotolia.com
© michaeljung – Fotolia.com

When a prospective client is looking for the professional services you provide, they may not be ready to talk to you yet. Instead, they may browse your website to find out more about you.

While the other sections of your website can show that person who you are and what you do, your blog shows them just how much you know.

Reading your blog gives clients a non-threatening way to interview you at a distance. If they like what they see, it will give them the confidence to contact you directly and take the next step.

Here are 10 blogging tips for attracting new clients for your professional service business:

  1. Plan first. A blogging plan is the best way to build confidence in your ability as a blogger, and in blogging’s effectiveness to grow your business. Outline why you’re blogging, your goals, and how you will achieve them. Detail when and how you will write, polish, publish and promote your posts, and define your blog’s key categories.
  2. Commit to a set of core topics. Hone in on 5-7 themes that intersect between your areas of expertise and the interests and concerns of your readers and prospective customers. Do not publish anything that doesn’t fit precisely into one of those categories. (You can add categories later, but think carefully first.) Blog categories focus your efforts and make it easier for both you and the reader to return week after week, knowing exactly what you’re doing there.
  3. Tap into a team. If a topic is outside your immediate scope, but important to your audience, you can still include that category. Simply create a list of people you can invite to write a guest post or be interviewed. Consider partnering with other professionals to share your resources. Decide who can best help you plan, produce and promote your blog posts.
  4. Ask and listen. You don’t have to guess about the topics your target audience is interested in, you can ask them! From a formal questionnaire to a casual question in passing, find out what’s on their minds in relation to your business. You can also listen in the background by searching for key phrases on social media platforms and reading comments and questions about your topics.
  5. Be a beginner. You’re an expert. That’s why people hire you. Yet it took years for you to build up your knowledge base and the collection of experiences you draw on every day to help your clients. Be sure your writing is accessible to someone who is brand new to your topic and your industry. Don’t use jargon or acronyms, or if you do, include a clear explanation that any novice can understand. Constantly put yourself in the shoes of a beginner and review what you’ve written from that perspective.
  6. Make your blog posts easy to read. Treat your readers like clients and give them a good experience of being with you. This can mirror the positive way you’ll treat them when you work together. Include plenty of white space on the page, by keeping paragraphs short, using sub-headings and/or lists. Include a compelling title and an eye-catching photo that help your reader connect to the topic on an emotional level.
  7. Proofread and pause. Walk away from your writing for a few minutes (at least) or a few days (ideally). You’ll be amazed at how many improvements you’ll find by giving yourself this space. Read your post out loud to catch errors your brain will skim over when you’re reading onscreen.
  8. Promote and repurpose your posts. As much as you’d like to think people are visiting your blog every morning to see what’s new, that’s highly unlikely. If you want them to see a new post, you must let them know it’s there. Use email newsletters (manual or RSS, social media updates, your email signature, and individual messages to people who would benefit the most. Schedule additional social media messages for the future. You never know when someone new will come along who needs to hear the exact message you just wrote. When you write posts on related topics (which you will, since you’re following my suggestion in #2), link back to this post to keep it alive.
  9. Monitor your responses and results. Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant® says there are three ways blogging gets business results: authority (i.e., recognition as an expert in your field), numbers (email subscribers, website traffic, social media followers, etc.) and dollars and cents (new clients, product sales). Be clear about the results you’re looking for, so you can track what’s working well and keep doing it.
  10. Keep blogging. Blogging only works if you do it consistently. While blog posts can and will draw new readers and results for years, when you stop blogging or blog only sporadically, it can raise questions about your professionalism and dependability. No one is perfect, myself included, so if you DO fall off the wagon, just jump back on as soon as you can.

If your business offers a professional service, blogging can tell prospective clients a lot about you. They will see how much you know, how generous you are with that knowledge, and how skilled you are at using your knowledge to help people just like them.

Use these 10 guidelines to make the most of this powerful marketing opportunity that is accessible 24/7 from your website, not to mention from any device connected to the internet.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

Three Blogging Truths About Marketing a Small Business

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© Jag_cz - Fotolia.com
© Jag_cz – Fotolia.com

Blogging is a doubly effective marketing tool that can attract prospective customers to your website and impress them when they arrive. That means they’re more likely to return, and to think of you when they need your services.

Here are three truths to remember about marketing a small business with a blog:

  1. There is room for you in the blogosphere

Many small business owners tell me they’re intimidated to start or keep blogging, because there are so many other qualified experts blogging about the same topics.

Yet no other expert has the exact same background, skill set, perspective, personality and experiences as you. Find ways to inject these elements into your posts, such as real-life examples, case studies from clients, or quirky quotes.

You may turn off readers who don’t resonate with how you see the world, but isn’t that a good thing? The people left behind will be the best customers for you!

You can also stand out by committing to produce the very best content you can, and to keep up with your blogging.

  1. YOU have to map the way from blogging to business

Producing high-quality content that is relevant, informative and interesting to your target audience is only the start. From there you need to build relationships with your readers so your ideal customers will recognize that you’re a good fit to meet their needs.

It should be clear to both you and the reader what you want them to do after reading your blog post (in marketing terms this is the call-to-action or CTA). Here are four common actions you may want your reader to take:

  1. Sit down and stay awhile – Provide links to other blog posts on your site the person may enjoy. Help people find their way with lists of related posts and a clean sidebar menu.
  2. Come back soon – Provide a sign-up form for an RSS and/or email subscription. This sends your blog posts directly to the people who want to read them, so they don’t need to remember to return. Most importantly, it allows you to reach out to the people who want to hear from you. That can and should include updates and offers from your business – just keep the main focus on delivering the relevant content that attracted them in the first place.
  3. Bring a friend – Install social sharing buttons that make it quick and easy for readers to share a link to your post with their social networks (we’ll talk more about social media in the third truth).
  4. Jump in, the water’s fine – Design clear menus and/or banners that link to your products and services. Remember that your repeat visitors have been getting to know you over time, and may now be ready to buy something or hire you.

  1. A blog only works if people read it

When you’ve put the work into creating great blog posts, don’t keep them a secret! SEO (search engine optimization) is one way to be found, but it is certainly not the only way. People can discover your blog from a multitude of sources, and you can accelerate that process.

Social media

For every blog post, compose a brief teaser message for each social media platform. Capture people’s attention with a compelling question, a quote, or the most important thing they will gain from clicking through to read your blog post.

Here are specific tips for the three major networks:

Twitter: On Twitter you have a limit of 140 characters, but keep it even shorter to give people room to add a comment and RT (re-tweet or re-post to their own followers). Hashtags help you be discovered by new people.

Facebook: Your posts don’t show up in people’s streams automatically, even if they’ve liked your page (you can pay to boost these results). Look for creative ways to encourage people to respond to your post (like, comment or share), since Facebook rewards this engagement with more visibility.

LinkedIn: Aside from posting a teaser message to all your connections, you can also send a personal message to those contacts who would most benefit from a particular topic. You can share a link in a group, as long as it’s relevant to that group’s focus, and fits with the culture and rules of that group.

Email

Once people have subscribed via your sign-up form, you can send your blog post links via automated RSS broadcasts and/or manual newsletters. You can also send the link individually to people who’ve shown interest in the topic or asked a question that your post answers.

For the widest reach amongst your personal and professional contacts, add a link to your blog or your latest blog post (WiseStamp does this automatically) to your email signature.

In-person events

When you’re out and about in the community, look for chances to promote your blog. If someone new asks what you do, or someone you know asks what you’re up to, tell them about your blog and what topics you cover.

If they seem interested, offer your business card with your website address (be sure your blog is easy to find from the main page of your site!). If there’s a blog post that relates to the conversation you had, follow up with that person by emailing the permalink of that post.

Now that you know these truths about marketing your small business with a blog, which of these tips will you apply first?

Get Local Customers From Blog to Business and a Blog Post Slideshow Example

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Ticket dispenser for busy business
© Richard Cote – Fotolia.com

Five Ways Local Customers Get From Your Blog to Your Business

When you blog effectively, you build trust, familiarity and goodwill with prospective customers. That makes them much more open to your sales offers, and more likely to say yes if they’re the right fit. In my latest post at SteamFeed, I explain exactly how blogging makes that connection.

If you’re still wondering if blogging is worth your time, please read this!

http://www.steamfeed.com/five-ways-local-customers-get-blog-business/

How to repurpose a blog post as a slideshow (example)

Also new this week, I took one of my guest blog posts from 12 Most and repurposed it as a slideshow. By uploading it to the popular site SlideShare, I’m hoping to attract some new readers. I’m also glad to give my readers a different way to enjoy my content and absorb the ideas in a more visual format.

I was already working on the piece when I read Jay Baer’s post, Did We Just Invent a New Form of Blogging, about what he calls the “blog share.” It spurred me on to complete the slideshow and plan future ones.

Could you convert one of your blog posts the same way?

Click below to view the slideshow version of 12 Most Tedious Blogging Tasks You Can Outsource.

https://contentmasteryguide.com/outsource-your-blogging-slideshow

How to Help Local Customers Find Your Content

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In a previous post, I offered six types of blog posts that will attract local customers from your area. While writing high-quality content is the most important way to use blogging to grow your business, there are additional strategies that will ensure more people see your great work.

Set up your content for discovery and sharing

Blogging puts your business in the spotlight
© hanack – Fotolia.com

In a recent article, Jeff Korhan covered how to design your blog post content for discovery and sharing – by both people and search engines.

He explains how to use your blog post’s title (if local results are important to you, find an authentic way to include it in the title), meta description (displays when your post shows up on search engine results pages), internal and external links, and subheadings and key phrases to maximize the chance it will be found online.

For example, did you know that it’s important to feature an internal link (to another blog post or page on your website) close to the beginning of your blog post? “Internal links tell the search engines that your content is relevant to other content on your site, with the first link being especially important.”

Internal linking strategy

I asked fellow SteamFeed author and SEO professional Brent Carnduff to say more about internal links:

“An internal linking strategy really has to be considered from two perspectives – SEO and the user experience. An effective internal linking strategy can be helpful to both.

From an SEO perspective, as Jeff mentioned in his article, internal links do help the search engines crawl your site – ultimately helping them to find and index more of your webpages. In addition, they can pass along some “authority” to the page that is linked to, and the anchor text that is used can help the search engines identify what that page is about.”

(Note from Linda: Anchor text refers to the words that your visitor will actually click on to view the post you’ve linked to. Instead of simply pasting an entire link such as http://www.jeffkorhan.com/2014/02/writing-for-the-web-tips.html, you can use relevant terms (keywords) that would reinforce to Google what that page is about, e.g., Jeff’s writing tips for the web.

“At the same time, internal linking will encourage your user to stay on your website longer, and to become more engaged with your content – which increases the likelihood of them taking the next step in your funnel.”

Get listed in local directories

Though it’s not related to blog post content, when she heard I was writing about getting found by local customers, fellow SteamFeed author Suzen Petitt wanted to make sure I also told you how important it is to list your business in local search directories.